


Sunday in the Park with Kurt (and Blaine)

by perry_avenue



Series: The Sweet DREAMers 'Verse [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Immigrant Rights, Klaine, M/M, The Dream Act
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-04-30 22:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5182112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perry_avenue/pseuds/perry_avenue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s the one year anniversary of Kurt and Blaine’s first date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunday in the Park with Kurt (and Blaine)

**Author's Note:**

> So happy to have a new fic in the Sweet DREAMers ‘verse to share with you! This one is fluffy and sweet, just right for an anniversary celebration. It takes place ten months after the original [ Sweet DREAMers ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3419171/chapters/7489244)ended. Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel are in the Fall semester of their junior year of college. Blaine is a business major at Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY). He came to the United States from the Philippines on a tourist visa with his mom when he was three years old and since then, has lived in Woodside, Queens with his mom and cousin Marco. As a gay, undocumented student, Blaine has the questionable good fortune to belong to two marginalized populations. He is in a relationship with Kurt, a U.S. citizen from Lima, Ohio, and a theatre major attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. 
> 
> It adds to the enjoyment of this fic if you’re familiar with the plot, the characters, and their personalities from the original _Sweet DREAMers,_ but it reads just as well as a stand-alone.
> 
> Huge thanks to my wonderful beta, [ flowerfan ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan)  
> 
> 
> **Note:** This fic was edited by the author after publication.
> 
> Follow me on [ Tumblr](http://perryavenue.tumblr.com)  
> 

_Saturday, October 17, 2015_

“Missed you,” Blaine murmured into Kurt’s neck as they greeted each other with a hug in the lobby of NYU’s Carlyle Court Apartments.

“Missed you, too,” Kurt whispered, aware that their location was not ideal for PDA but preferring not to let go of his boyfriend. “I’m so sorry about Thursday. Stupid extra rehearsal. I don’t _like_ going a whole week without seeing you.”

“Not your fault,” said Blaine, pulling his head back so he could look into Kurt’s eyes. “And I wasn’t mad. I got stuff done. Now, if you had told me you were cancelling tonight, _then_ we would have had a discussion!”

“No way,” Kurt replied, shaking his head while holding Blaine’s hand and walking to the reception desk to sign Blaine in. “Not when it’s our anniversary.”

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand tightly, and smiled. “Thank you for dressing for the occasion, by the way. You look beautiful.” Blaine openly admired Kurt's outfit, which included a tightly fitted purple button down shirt, open at the neck, paired with appealingly snug dark grey dress pants.

“So do you,” replied an equally admiring Kurt, as he gazed at Blaine’s plaid dress shirt that hugged his torso, perfectly matched with a colorful bow tie, and paired with tight red slacks.

Blaine waived a small brown shopping bag at Kurt. “I’ve got the celebratory babka from Breads!”

Kurt beamed. “Success! Our dinner is complete.” He took Blaine’s messenger bag off his shoulder and hoisted it on his own, leaving Blaine with his back pack and the babka. “Speaking of dinner, there’s still a few things we need to do.” They walked to the elevators and went up to the sixth floor. 

*****

The Fall semester had brought brutal workloads for both Kurt and Blaine. Junior year had turned out to be more of a challenge than either had anticipated. Their courses were their toughest yet, and in addition to their part-time jobs, Blaine had been elected President of the Baruch College DREAM Team. The group was sponsoring a major campus-wide talk in late October on the 2016 Presidential candidates and where they stood on immigration reform. The planning for it had the potential to consume all of Blaine’s remaining spare time. Kurt had been cast as the lead in a school production of Stephen Sondheim’s _“Sunday in the Park With George,”_ with three performances scheduled for the middle of November. Kurt had been thrilled when Jim Peterson, the Associate Director for the Cole Porter revue he had performed in last Fall, approached him at the start of the semester to discuss his plan to direct one of Sondheim’s most challenging musicals. Jim had invited Kurt to audition for the role of George Seurat. Kurt had expected a lead role to require a lot of work, but the complexity of both the music and the book made it especially difficult. There was nothing intuitive about Sondheim’s music. Rehearsals, learning his lines and the songs, and keeping up with class assignments were overwhelming. Kurt and Blaine’s extra crowded schedules threatened to cut into the already limited time they had to spend with each other.

They had agreed that when they felt overly stressed was precisely the time they needed to be together to support each other. So they stuck to their schedule of Thursday and Saturday night sleep overs at Kurt’s as much as possible. But they still had to accommodate schedule conflicts that invariably popped up, despite their attempts to keep those to a minimum. 

*****

Kurt unlocked the apartment door. After they had taken off their shoes and put Blaine’s bags away, Kurt opened his arms, and Blaine wrapped himself in Kurt. Their kisses were slow and purposeful, as if they were rediscovering each other’s mouths after a long absence. Kurt pulled back gently to kiss up Blaine’s jawline to his ear. “You taste so good,” he whispered. “But can we pause this? We need to finish up the dinner prep and if we don’t stop now, I’ll forget there _is_ a dinner.” Kurt brushed his lips against Blaine’s cheek. “I promise I won’t forget where we were.”

Blaine turned his head to kiss Kurt soundly on the lips. “You taste good, too. And we agreed that we would savor every minute together tonight. I’m not in any hurry.”

Kurt smiled and reached for Blaine’s hand. “Let me show you what we’re making.” They walked over to the kitchen counter where a red and a green sweet pepper, a jalapeño pepper, cilantro, two fresh limes, a small bowl of mango slices, and green onions were on display. 

“Colorful!” Blaine exclaimed. “And I see my two loves, mangoes and cilantro. What’s this for?”

“I saw this recipe for Black Bean and Mango Salad when I went shopping in the Greenmarket this morning. I thought it would go great with the rest of the meal.”

“Which is?”

Kurt smiled proudly. “All things we haven’t tried before. Flank steak marinated with soy sauce and seasoned with honey and crushed garlic, and brown rice with sautéed mushrooms cooked in a Thai ginger-seasoned broth. Plus a loaf of fresh bread, the bean and mango salad, and then the chocolate babka for dessert.”

“Kurt, this sounds amazing!” 

“Well, it _is_ our anniversary dinner. Okay, technically, the ‘night before our anniversary dinner’ but I wanted it to be special for us.”

Blaine shifted to stand behind Kurt, wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s waist, and tucked his head against the side of Kurt’s neck. “This _is_ special. You’re special. I love you.”

Kurt leaned back against Blaine’s chest. “I love you, too.” 

“You’d better let me help.”

“Absolutely. We should make the salad and sauté the mushrooms now. I’ve already got the flank steak marinating. I also bought some artisanal cheese and two Asian pears to serve as an appetizer. I got this great idea from a magazine. You slice up the Asian pears and use them like you would a cracker, with the cheese slice on top.”

Blaine just shook his head in amazement. Kurt laughed, spun around, and kissed Blaine lightly on the nose. “This is going to be fun, and hopefully delicious. Choose your weapon and come help me chop these veggies.”

“Yes, Chef,” Blaine replied, giggling.

Kurt removed the seeds from the jalapeño pepper first, and set aside the limes. Working together, the vegetables were chopped in just a few minutes. “I’m going to rinse and drain the black beans,” said Kurt, reaching for the can. “Then we just mix everything together, add some olive oil and fresh lime juice, and let it sit in the refrigerator. If you want to rinse off the mushrooms, I’ll sauté them. I’ll put the cheese out so it can get to room temperature, and then we’ll slice up the pears.”

Blaine felt all of the stress and craziness of this past week fade away as he helped Kurt prepare the meal. He couldn’t stop smiling. It was so much fun to be cooking together, to make the anniversary of their first date something really special. And for Kurt, despite his insane schedule, to spend time coming up with a menu like this, and shopping for all the ingredients himself? Well, if that didn’t say “I love you,” Blaine didn’t know what did. 

*****

Kurt hummed happily as he sautéed the mushrooms on the stove. Blaine stood near him at the counter, slicing the bread in preparation for warming it in the oven later. Kurt hadn’t felt this relaxed in a week, probably not since the last time Blaine had stayed over. 

They had deliberately planned a quiet, lazy evening in as part of their anniversary celebration, in contrast to their crazy, busy schedules. Their anniversary present to each other was a special one: more than twenty four consecutive hours of uninterrupted time together. Kurt had made his roommate Santana promise she would stay away from the apartment until late Sunday afternoon so he and Blaine could have it to themselves. They had agreed that during this time, there would be no studying (both), no rehearsals (Kurt), no work hours at Barnes & Noble (Blaine), no checking social media (both), no Baruch College DREAM Team issues (Blaine), no NYU campus tours (Kurt), and no advocacy projects (Blaine). Sleep however, was okay. 

Kurt looked up to watch Blaine set the table with cloth placemats and candles, adding a festive touch to their special meal. “That looks pretty.” 

“Thank you,” said Blaine, stepping back to take it all in. “I’m wondering about the wine glasses. Are we having wine with dinner?”

“I bought Prosecco for our midnight toast, but I found a nice, inexpensive red for us to have with dinner. Pooling our money together really helped to make things elegant tonight.”

Blaine nodded. “A meal like this in a restaurant would cost three times what we spent to buy everything.”

“And if we ate out, the food would be missing the special ingredient that only we can add.”

Blaine grinned. “Our love?”

“Of course. It’s the miracle spice.”

*****

Kurt uncorked the bottle of Argentine Malbec (he was secretly proud that it was highly recommended by the wine shop owner AND had cost less than ten dollars a bottle) and filled the wine glasses, while Blaine brought the tray of cheese and pears into the living room and set it on the coffee table. “I think I’ll put the flank steak in the oven in thirty minutes,” Kurt said, more to himself than to Blaine. “It only needs about fifteen to cook. I can throw the bread in at the same time and the rice should be done by then, too.”

Blaine sat down on the sofa, looked up at Kurt, and smiled. “You seem to have everything under control, as usual.” 

Kurt winced slightly in response as he carried the wine glasses into the living room, handing Blaine one while he sat down holding the other. 

“What?” Blaine asked.

Kurt shrugged. “I haven’t felt very ‘under control.’ You know how crazy the week’s been. But this, you being here, us cooking together and just enjoying having you next to me? It’s the best I’ve felt since you were here last week. You help me erase all the crazy.”

Blaine snuggled against Kurt. “You do the same for me.” Blaine lifted his wine glass. “Let’s make a pre-anniversary toast.”

Kurt smiled. “Okay.” He raised his glass next to Blaine’s. “To us, for this year, and many, many more.”

“To us,” Blaine echoed. “And to knowing that what we have is precious, and to remember to always take good care of it.” 

“Amen to that,” Kurt said as they clinked their glassed together, and took their first sip of wine.

“Mmm. Very nice,” said Blaine. He leaned over to put his glass on the table, and prepared a slice of pear and cheese for Kurt, placed it on a cocktail napkin, and then did the same for himself. They ate in silence for a few seconds. “I love the pear with the cheese.” Kurt nodded in agreement, still chewing. Blaine put his head on Kurt’s shoulder, and took Kurt’s hand in his. “So call me crazy, but why do I think you feeling ‘not in control’ might have something to do with the extra rehearsal that popped up suddenly on Thursday? You haven’t said anything about it other than when you called to cancel our Thursday sleep over.”

Kurt sighed. “Are we really going to do this now?”

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand. “Ah, hah! I thought so. We have almost a half hour until dinner. Better now than later. Tell me what happened.”

Kurt sighed again, leaned forward to take another sip of wine, and then re-positioned himself so his head was against Blaine’s chest. Blaine kissed Kurt’s hair, and let his hand run soothingly up and down Kurt’s arm.

“I’ve told you how _Sunday_ is such a complex show. Everything about it; the staging, the music, the dialogue, is really difficult. It’s the first big thing Jim’s directed for his director’s fellowship, and we all like him so much. We just want it to be a success as much as he does. And he was nice enough to give me the lead, my _first_ lead role at Tisch, and I’m scared I’ll screw it up. This isn’t like doing the Porter or Sondheim revues, where it was basically singing and dancing in individual numbers. This is a big, messy, complicated show. And at Thursday’s rehearsal, I felt like I wasn’t making any headway. I was getting frustrated, and it felt like Jim was just trying to be kind.” 

Blaine’s hand stopped in mid-motion. He reached down for Kurt’s chin and turned his face towards him. “Whoa. ‘Nice enough to give you the lead?’ Stop that. You got the lead because you were the best choice to play George. Or have you forgotten how you killed “Finishing the Hat” when you sang it at the Sondheim review last Spring? Your voice is amazing. Your stage presence is amazing. You’re going to be a great George.”

Kurt bit his lip, and his eyes teared up, seeing the love and support on Blaine’s face. “Oh sweetie, I love you. I do try to remind myself that I’m George because I’m good enough to play George, but some days, it feels like I’m climbing a mountain.”

“Then let me help. I can run lines with you. I can sing with you. Whatever you need.”

Kurt pulled Blaine’s hand to his lips and kissed it twice, before nuzzling closer against Blaine’s chest. “Thank you. I feel better just talking about it.” 

Blaine’s hand resumed it’s up and down journey along Kurt’s arm. “Sometimes it helps to let the scary stuff out.”

It was quiet for a minute while they let themselves get lost in the comfort of being with each other. Kurt looked up to check the time. “I don't have to put the flank steak in the oven for a few more minutes. Tell me what’s going on with the DREAM Team. You were all stressed out about it earlier this week.”

It was Blaine’s turn to sigh. “You know the expression, ‘it shouldn’t have to be this hard?’ Well, it’s about the talk later this month on the Presidential candidates and immigration reform. Basically, the Democratic candidates pretty much support immigration reform and the Republicans are mostly dead set against it. We have several faculty members and one of the attorneys from CUNY Citizenship Now as speakers. Some of the political science faculty plan to send their students to it as a course assignment. ”

Kurt nodded. “Reminds me of your talk at NYU last year and how Santana went to it for a course assignment. That’s how I got to hear your speech.”

“Exactly. So the content part is being nicely managed by the speakers. But there’s so much publicity still to be done, and with everything else going on, I don’t have the time…”

Kurt interrupted him. “Wait, last year, you were Events Coordinator. Is there an Events Coordinator this year?”

“Yes.”

“So isn’t that person supposed to do the publicity?”

Blaine sighed. “She’s busy, too, and since I did it last year, and know who to see, I just thought it would be faster if I just did it. But now that I’m President, I have to attend these meetings with the other student organization Presidents, and it’s just a lot.”

Kurt sat up and took both of Blaine’s hands in his. “Blaine, being president of the DREAM Team means you have to delegate responsibility, and not try to do everything yourself. It’s a sign of good leadership to trust your Executive Board, and let them take ownership of things. Everyone’s busy, but everyone has to make a commitment to getting the work done, too. If you don’t involve them, they’re never going to learn what being a leader means. They’ll just assume you’ll do everything. You’ll end up exhausted.”

“So you’re telling me to let it go,” Blaine said, trying to hide his smile.

Kurt grinned. “Yup, just like the song. Let them do the work and they’ll do you proud. I know how much they admire you." He sat up and squeezed Blaine’s hand. “Time to cook the flank steak.”

*****

Dinner was as delicious as Kurt had hoped it would be, with plenty of leftovers for another meal. They decided to wait until later for dessert. After washing and drying the dishes, Kurt draped his arms around Blaine’s shoulders and kissed Blaine along his jaw line, pausing when he reached Blaine’s ear. “Mmm. Here’s the spot where I left off earlier. What would you like to do next?”

Blaine looked up at Kurt, his eyes dark and intense. “I think it’s time for anniversary sex.”

Kurt smiled. “Is anniversary sex different from regular sex?” he asked.

“Yes,” Blaine murmured, as he began to unbutton Kurt’s shirt. “We can only have it once a year, so we have to make sure it’s very, very good.”

Kurt waited patiently while Blaine opened all the buttons and pushed Kurt’s shirt off his shoulders, draping it over the back of the sofa. Then he began to do the same for Blaine. “Do you think we should move this into the bedroom?”

“You have the best ideas,” Blaine replied, and taking Kurt’s hand in his, stood up while pulling him off the sofa. They grabbed their shirts and walked into Kurt’s bedroom, Kurt closing the door behind them. They tossed their shirts over his desk chair, and Kurt pulled Blaine close, a small sigh of relief escaping his lips. _At last,_ he thought to himself, as his mouth found Blaine’s. He reached for Blaine’s belt, and began to open it. Blaine’s hands found his hips, and Kurt shuddered at the touch. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too. So much.” Blaine replied.

*****  
_Early Sunday Morning, October 18, 2015_

They were lying in bed, under the sheets, their arms and legs tangled together, when Kurt’s alarm began to beep softly. “Blaine, it’s midnight!”

“Mmm. So it is.” Blaine leaned into Kurt to give him a long, lingering kiss, which Kurt eagerly returned.

“It’s official! We’ve been a couple for one year. We should make a toast with the Prosecco. And I could serve the babka. What do you think?”

Blaine cupped the side of Kurt’s face, and Kurt turned to kiss his palm. “Would you like to eat in here?” Blaine asked. “I think we can be careful.”

“I agree.” Kurt stood up and pulled on a pair of boxer briefs. “It’ll just take two trips.”

“No it won’t. Not if I help,” said Blaine as he swung his legs onto the floor, put on his boxer briefs, and followed Kurt into the kitchen.

Kurt opened the Prosecco and poured it into two champagne flutes, topping each with a single fresh strawberry. Blaine cut two generous slices of babka, and put them on plates. They carried everything back to the bedroom, including the bottle of Prosecco.

Kurt carefully placed a glass on each end table, and Blaine did the same with the dessert. They climbed back into bed, sitting against the head board, and pulled the sheet up to their waist. Then they each reached for the Prosecco. Kurt clinked his glass against Blaine’s.

“Happy first anniversary, sweetie. I love you so much.”

“The first of many. I love you, too.” 

They sipped the sparkling white wine, they’re eyes locked on each other. Blaine reached into his glass to remove the strawberry, which he placed against Kurt’s lips. Kurt’s eyes smoldered, and he opened his mouth, sucking in Blaine’s fingers as well as the strawberry. Blaine’s eyes closed at the sensation. Kurt served Blaine his strawberry the same way, and then they fed the babka to each other. Kurt refilled the glasses, and snuggled against Blaine’s chest, his arm around Blaine’s waist. Blaine’s fingers combed soothingly through Kurt’s hair.

“Oh, sweetie,” Kurt sighed happily. “That feels so good.”

“That’s the plan,” Blaine replied, pressing a kiss to Kurt’s head.

There was silence, but Blaine knew Kurt hadn’t dozed off. “I can hear your brain working,” he said fondly.

Kurt turned his head to kiss Blaine’s chest, and settled himself again. “I was thinking about us.”

“Oh, sounds about right, it’s our anniversary, and here we are in bed, holding each other.”

“Stop, I’m serious,” Kurt protested.

“I’m listening, baby,” Blaine said reassuringly.

“I’m thinking how well we’re tuned into each other, how well we take care of each other. You know when something’s bothering me, and I know when something’s bothering you, and we problem solve together. I am so grateful for the way you listen to me, and how you make things better for me.”

Blaine began to stroke the side of Kurt’s face. “I feel the same way. You always know how to calm me down, how to set me on a better path. I love how we do that for each other. I just think the lives we lead when we’re apart are easier to handle when we can confide in each other and offer advice and support. Knowing that you always have my back just makes everything easier.”

Kurt kissed Blaine’s chest again. “Plus we have really great sex.”

Blaine chuckled. “We have the _very_ best sex.”

“Then we’re perfect,” said Kurt happily. “I couldn’t wish for anything more.”

“Good thing,” Blaine replied. He stifled a laugh.

“What?”

“You’ll be mad at me. When you just said you couldn’t wish for anything more, my brain flipped back to our big fight last December, when you decided you would solve all my problems by marrying me.”

Kurt began to push himself off Blaine, but Blaine held him tight. “No, no, I knew you’d get mad. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the _idea_ of marriage,” Kurt huffed. “I just screwed up on the timing and execution.”

“You are the love of my life. Who knows what might happen down the road?”

Kurt broke free of Blaine’s grasp, bent over his body, pinned his wrists, and straddled him. “Don’t toy with me, sweetie!”

Blaine looked up into his boyfriend’s face and smiled. “I can imagine us there, someday.”

Kurt smiled back. “I can, too.”

***** 

Later that morning, they would have brunch at The Almond Restaurant, where eleven months earlier, Kurt had taken his father to meet Blaine for the first time. If the weather cooperated, there would be time for a stroll through Madison Square Park, one of the places they visited on their first date. In the late afternoon, they would take the subway to Woodside, Queens, where Blaine lived, to enjoy Sunday dinner with Blaine’s family. Then Kurt would take the subway back to Union Square alone, and the crazy schedule both boys had managed to temporarily keep at bay would resume. But for now, all that mattered was they were together, completely in love, and nothing could separate them.

**Author's Note:**

> Read the newest fic, [ Validation, ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6039184/chapters/13847068)which follows the original Sweet DREAMers chronologically . 
> 
> Your comments are very important to me. I would love to hear from you!
> 
> Information about [ Sunday in the Park with George.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_in_the_Park_with_George) George Seurat was a famous 19th century French painter.
> 
> Video of [ Finishing the Hat,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ducG55pfCMQ) performed by Mandy Patinkin
> 
> For readers who are not familiar with the original _Sweet DREAMers_ , I’ve provided information below on locations as well as definitions that are mentioned in this fic. All of the locations are real, and are found mostly in the Union Square area of Manhattan, in New York City. 
> 
> Carlyle Court Apartments at 25 Union Square West is owned by NYU and houses primarily upperclassmen. 
> 
> DREAM Teams exist at a significant number of colleges and universities in the United States to raise awareness of issues facing “DREAMers” - individuals in the U.S. who were brought to the country at an early age without documentation but assimilated into U.S. culture and educated by US school systems.
> 
> DREAM is the acronym for The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act. It was first introduced in the U.S. Senate in August 2001, and has been re-introduced every year since. Provisions of the DREAM Act were included in the Immigration Reform legislation passed by the US Senate in June 2013, but which never came before the House of Representatives for a vote. DREAM’s main provisions provide a path to legalization and eventually citizenship for certain immigrant youth who attend college or serve in the US military, and eliminates any federal regulations that penalizes states that provide in-state tuition without regard to immigration status. Eligibility requirements include entering the country when they were under 16 years old, proving they have continuously lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years and graduated from a U.S. high school or obtained a GED; demonstrating their good moral character; proving they have not committed any crimes that would make them inadmissible to the country.
> 
> [ CUNY Citizenship Now ](http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship.html) is a real organization. Founded in 1997, it’s staffed by attorneys and paralegal professionals, and provides free immigration law services in New York City to those seeking US permanent residency and citizenship. 
> 
> [ Breads Bakery ](http://www.breadsbakery.com/) is located just off of Union Square at 18 East 16th Street, and their chocolate babka IS delicious. For the uninitiated, babka is a sweet yeast cake. 
> 
> The Union Square Greenmarket is at 1 Union Square West between East 14th and East 15th Streets. 
> 
> [ Almond ](http://www.almondnyc.com/p3.php) is at 12 East 22nd Street between 5th Avenue and Park Avenue South.
> 
> [ Madison Square Park ](http://www.aviewoncities.com/nyc/madisonsquare.htm) has an interesting history.


End file.
